A Typical Day in the Office
by kln101
Summary: One-shot story about Lois & Clark and how they relate to one another. Works for any Superman version. Set early in their relationship. They're comfortable working together and feeling some real chemistry, but Lois is unaware of Clark's identity as Superman. Ch. 1 tells the story from Lois's point of view, while Ch. 2 tells the events from Clark's perspective.
1. A Typical Day at the Office- Lois's POV

**A Typical Day at the Office** _(Lois's point of view, see Ch. 2 for this scene from Clark's perspective)_

Her fingers skimmed the surface of the keyboard in front of her, but Lois wasn't actually typing anything. She was supposed to be writing tomorrow's headline story, but it wasn't happening. Nothing had happened today that she felt remotely inspired to share with the readers of _The Daily Planet_. Yes, she'd interviewed the man who crashed his car into the guardrail by the interstate. She'd also called to get details about the Metropolis contestant who was appearing on some new reality television cooking series. Neither story was going to change any lives.

Where was Clark? She hadn't seen him in the office in hours. He ought to be sitting at his desk across from her so that she could make him share in her frustration. Of course, he probably would just smile and give her some Smallville platitude. For all that he spent most of his time seeming twitchy and awkward, he never really seemed anxious about paper deadlines. He actually had an annoying habit of being reassuring. She heard the ding of the elevator and turned around to see him coming onto the floor. Finally! It didn't seem like _The_ _Planet _was really all there without him.

"Clark, where have you been? There is apparently nothing going on in Metropolis today, and somehow Perry seems to think that I'm going to come up with some amazing headline out of nowhere. Does he think Pulitzer prize winning stories just drop out of the sky?" Lois turned back to her blank computer screen as Clark folded his jacked over his chair. It was true that perhaps she would like to see something… or someone… drop out of the sky.

"Hey Lois, nice to see you, too. How've you been today?" He was always so polite. What was the point? They were already talking about how the day was going. As Clark settled into his desk, he picked up his phone to check his messages. "I see you've texted me once or twice."

Lois was fully aware that she had sent a couple of messages to Clark's phone. The office wasn't the only thing that felt more complete with Clark around. "Smallville, the purpose in having one of those handy devices is that you can answer me even when you're not in the same room. It's living in the space age, isn't it?" Based on experience, she knew that Clark wouldn't remember to check his messages if they flashed across a billboard in front of him. Sometimes she wondered how he survived. Maybe those glasses just weren't thick enough.

"Did you need anything, Lois? None of these messages actually seem to ask a question." Clark set his phone back on the desk, and turned to look at her. While sometimes oblivious, she thought that maybe that was sarcasm, which was the closest Clark ever came to a biting remark. She really did want to know where he had spent the day, but if she stopped to figure it out now she would be wasting an opportunity to escape from a seriously boring headline.

"Clark," Lois answered with a brilliant smile, "I just thought that maybe you wanted a chance to write an amazing piece for tomorrow's paper! It just screamed 'Clark Kent,' and I even went ahead and did some of the leg work for you." With an encouraging nod, she passed a notebook across the desks to him.

He reached out for it, and for the briefest of moments his fingers brushed across hers. Out of nowhere she felt the touch like a brand. The heat seemed to run straight through her. For some inexplicable reason she felt the urge to keep her hand in his. Her eyes flew up to his face, but he hadn't seemed to notice the moment. Lois jerked her hand back, and he started reading the details on the cooking show contestant.

It wasn't the first time that contact with Clark had lit her up like the Empire State Building, but she wasn't willing to go there. She wasn't into the Farm Boy type, and even if she was, it wasn't going to happen. She may tease him on the regular about his Boy Scout routine, but in reality he was the best partner she'd ever worked with. In fact, he was the only partner that had ever lasted. For some reason people continually complained that she was demanding and difficult to work with. Was she supposed to be blamed for having high standards?

Not only was Clark a decent writer, he was easy to collaborate with and sometimes even made it worth sharing a byline. Also, he was good at correcting her spelling mistakes, which weren't exactly infrequent, without being a pain. In the end, she wasn't screwing up the longest functioning relationship she'd ever had because of a few random sparks.

"Gee, Lois. Thanks for the story. Are you sure you don't want to keep it for yourself?" He looked at her with innocent eyes, and Lois couldn't actually tell if he was serious or teasing her. No matter what he said, Clark always seemed so sincere. Did it make her a bad person to leave him with that headline? It was probably going to end up on the front page, after all, so it was okay, right? Right or wrong, there was no way she was keeping that story.

"No, you have at it." Whether he was kidding or not, Lois decided to make a run for it before he could hand it back over. She turned off her monitor and grabbed her purse, then pushed back from the desk. "Perry needs that ASAP if you don't mind." She stood up quickly and made a bee-line for the elevator.

Good stories didn't create themselves, well, actually, maybe they did. But they didn't do their own press. If she was going to find something worth writing about, she needed to start looking. Clark was way better at the home-town angle than she was anyway, so Perry was better off with Clark's take on the Metropolis home-chef turned possible reality show star. She needed to get out there on foot and find something she could sink her teeth into.

Turning as she entered the elevator, Lois slammed her hand out to keep the doors open.

"Oh, and Clark?"

"Yes, Lois?"

"I figure I gave you a good bit of finished work on that story, so be a pal and make sure I can find my name on the byline."

"Oh, of course Lois. And thanks again!" Clark already seemed buried in the work. Still not sure if he was serious or not, Lois let the doors to the elevator close shut. There was no such thing as a slow night in Metropolis, and she was going to go find a real story. The night was young. Maybe she'd even find time to head up to the roof of her building and see if a certain hero was around to take a late night flight. There was a chance he'd even run across something today that Lois could use in a story.

Come to think of it, she never did figure out what Clark spent his day doing, but if it'd been important he'd have filled her in. She'd ask him again when she saw him tomorrow.

**_Continue to Ch. 2 to read this scene from Clark's point of view._**


	2. A Typical Day at the Office- Clark's POV

**A Typical Day at the Office** _(Clark's point of view, see Ch. 1 for this scene from Lois's perspective)_

It had been a long day. Clark had spent the last couple of hours tracking down a group of kidnappers who had thought it'd be a good plan to take a class of school children and keep them for ransom. It should have been easy to resolve, but these weren't the dumbest criminals Metropolis had to offer. They'd split up the class and hidden them all over the city. It had taken hours to track down every kid and be sure they were safely returned to their families.

He figured that Lois was going to want to know where he had been all day, and he really didn't feel like drumming up another lie. As the elevator moved up to his floor, Clark started running scenarios in his head.

The ding of the elevator went off, and the doors slid open. All of Clark's excuses fell out of his head, and there she was. He knew that in less than a second she would turn around and want to know where he'd been, but Clark was capable of accomplishing a lot in that time. He noticed the familiar smell of her perfume, the sound of her fingers brushing across the computer keys, and the way that the light shone down and made her glow like she had a halo. He soaked it in, laughing at himself at the thought of Lois Lane having a halo. Not likely. He also wondered why her fingers were only brushing over keys instead of actually typing. She wasn't one to sit still long, and heaven help all of Metropolis if she was bored.

As the sound of the elevator reached her ears, she swiveled around. He thought she looked glad to see him. It might have been wishful thinking, as Lois didn't spend much of her time seeking anything other than her next big story. She considered it her mission to keep Metropolis aware of what was happening, whether it was in the streets or in the boardrooms.

"Clark, where have you been?" Ah, his favorite question. Luckily this was Lois, so if he could get her more worried about a story he wouldn't have to come up with a lie about how he spent his day. Also, she wasn't done welcoming him. "There is apparently nothing going on in Metropolis today, and somehow Perry seems to think that I'm going to come up with some amazing headline out of nowhere. Does he think Pulitzer prize winning stories just drop out of the sky?"

Clark folded his jacket and draped it over his seat before relaxing for a moment. This was one of his favorite parts of the day, when he could just be Lois's partner and give her a hard time. He pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket before settling into his chair.

"Hey Lois, nice to see you, too. How've you been today?" He knew it drove her crazy when he ignored her welcoming rants and made polite conversation. She pretty much believed that manners were a waste of time. Glancing down at his phone, he realized that she had messaged him nearly twenty times in the last few hours. He bit back a smile. Lois was the only person in Metropolis looking for just him, Clark, the partner, not Superman, the hero. Not that she wouldn't mind a visit from the latter, Clark was sure. "I see you've texted once or twice." He ought to try and answer her messages once in a while, but he didn't spend most of his time with his phone on hand.

"Smallville, the purpose in having one of those handy devices is that you can answer me even when you're not in the same room. It's living in the space age, isn't it?" Clark was fully aware of her sarcasm, and he smiled as he read over the string of messages. He noticed a theme. It centered around the fact that he needed to finish whatever he was doing and get back to the office and back to her.

"Did you need anything, Lois? None of these messages actually seem to ask a question." One of Clark's favorite pastimes was just being really nice to Lois. She was normally the most sure-footed person he knew, but throw a few polite remarks her way and she couldn't tell which direction was up.

"Clark," she began, sending him a killer smile. He was completely aware that it was the smile that she used when she wanted something, and it was crazily effective on him. With that look on her face, he wanted to do whatever it was she was about to ask. "I just thought that maybe you wanted a chance to write an amazing piece for tomorrow's paper! It just screams 'Clark Kent,' and I even went ahead and did some of the leg work for you."

For another smile Clark would have written tomorrow's entire paper. Whatever the story was, she must really hate it to pass it on. The two of them had gotten pretty decent at sharing a story, so his curiosity was peaked. Lois reached across their desks to pass him a notebook, and he stretched out his hand. His fingers brushed across hers as he took the notebook, and he felt her all over. What was it about her that made him want to grab her and fly off into the night? One part of it was that she just seemed to honest and real to him in a world of the fantastic and amazing. The other part of it he was going to have to figure out, and soon. Granted, it was crazy to describe her as honest when she was blatantly manipulating him into writing some story about a reality show chef she didn't want to deal with. To be truthful himself, though, he was free to say no.

"Gee, Lois. Thanks for the story. Are you sure you don't want to keep it for yourself?" Of course she didn't, but Clark could see the charm in the details as he scanned over the notes. The adolescent had been in and out of the Metropolis juvenile system for a couple of years, until a foster parent held helped him find an interest in culinary arts. After seeing so much hate all the time, Clark was happy to dedicate some of his attention on something good.

"No, you have at it." Lois obviously saw this as an escape opportunity. "Perry needs that ASAP if you don't mind." She grabbed her things and made a dash for the elevator. She didn't make it all the way out before she remembered something. She stuck out her hand and stopped the elevator.

"Oh, and Clark?"

"Yes, Lois?"

"I figure I gave you a good bit of finished work on that story, so be a pal and make sure I can find my name on the byline."

"Oh, of course Lois. And thanks again!" Clark smiled as the elevator doors closed. No way was she getting a byline on this. Lois Lane's name didn't belong under the headline he was going to write about this kid who'd overcome the odds and moved off the streets of Metropolis.

He'd make it up to her. He could finish this story in minutes and meet up with Lois, but not as her partner from _The Planet_. He'd catch her on her way home and fill her in on the kidnappings from today. Clark sometimes liked to write his own account of Superman's heroics, but sharing about his day with Lois and then reading it back in tomorrow's paper was one thing that made him able to do it again tomorrow. The tension and pressure seemed to melt away as she put into words how his actions allowed the families of Metropolis, and often the rest of the world, sleep at night. She reminded him of why he did it.

Maybe, if she asked nicely, they could even find time to go for a late night flight.


End file.
